abacus, a South African-based IT recruitment company, stated that about 1.2 million IT jobs in Europe will move offshore within the next decade. Moreover, most of these jobs will be lost by the United Kingdom.

Org Geldenhuys, CEO of Abacus, said that according to Forrester Research, 56,000 UK jobs were expected to be offshored to non-European countries in 2004. The number of offshored jobs will rise to about 760,000 by 2015. Geldenhuys said that South Africa is on the winning side of this situation.

According to him, although South Africa is a relatively small outsourcing player, the country is part of the top 10 leading outsourcing destinations. He added that if South Africa plays their cards right, the country should gain thousands of jobs in the next few years.

Geldenhuys said, "This highlights the attraction of outsourcing, a new business trend that is going to keep gathering steam. Countries who can offer high levels of expertise at good rates, or simply cheaper labour, are going to be on the winning side for some time to come."